I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sun visor for a motor vehicle and, in particular, to an auxiliary visor which may be readily mounted to the existing sun visor of the motor vehicle.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Adjustable sun visors have been standard equipment on motor vehicles for many years. Generally, these visors are mounted to the upper interior surface of the vehicle so that the visor may be readily moved into a non-obstructing position when not needed. Modern visors include a mounting bracket, which secures the visor to the upper inside corner of the driver/passenger's compartment, a shaft extending from the mounting bracket, and a visor panel which provides the necessary shielding. The visor panel has a length which is longer than the length of the shaft and a width which is sufficient to effectively shield the eyes of a driver/passenger from the sun or other source of glare while not obstructing the driver's view of vehicle traffic. In addition, the visor can usually be positioned at different angles by pivoting the visor panel about the visor shaft.
Although this arrangement effectively shields glare or sunlight which may be emanating from a source in front of the vehicle, it is often advantageous to shield glare which may be coming through the side window of the vehicle. To overcome this, the visor was constructed so that it may be pivoted about the mounting bracket. However, because of the length of the visor shaft and panel, pivoting the visor from its front position to its side position usually requires the driver to "duck" and move his head to the side thereby taking his eyes off the road. In heavy traffic, this may prove costly or threatening.
To overcome this disadvantage of the prior art visors various specially designed visors were developed which allowed the user to position the visor panel such that the visors would shield the driver/passenger from glare or sunlight at any angle without moving the visor. Generally, these devices involved multiple or dual visors, all similar to the individual visor of the prior art, and depending from a mutual mounting bracket. Since this bracket must be specially designed, the cost of installing the auxiliary visor may prevent a user from deeming if worthwhile or cost-effective. Moreover, because modern vehicles are factory equipped with individual visors, this primary visor would have to be discarded in order to install the multiple visor arrangement.
Prior known auxiliary visors have been developed which attach directly to either the shaft or visor panel of the primary or existing visor. Generally, a clip or similar mounting device is utilized to demountably attach the auxiliary visor. However, because the primary visor is mounted to the interior of the car at a single pivot point, the added weight of the auxiliary visor can eventually cause the visor shaft to bend or break away from the mounting bracket and the interior surface of the vehicle. Moreover, these auxiliary visors are dependent upon the position of the primary visor and, thus, must be pivoted into different positions depending upon the position of the primary visor in order to provide effective shielding.